(Sports Network) - CC Sabathia faces the team he broke into the majors with when he goes for a fifth straight win tonight, as the New York Yankees continue a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
Sabathia spent the first eight-plus seasons of his career with the Indians, who made him a first-round pick in 1998. After he won an American League Cy Young Award for them in 2007, the Indians dealt him to Milwaukee near the 2008 trade deadline, before he signed a monster free agent deal with the Yankees that offseason.
The big lefty won for the fourth straight time and for the eighth time in nine starts against the Brewers on Thursday, as he scattered six hits and matched a career-high with 13 strikeouts over 7 2/3 scoreless innings to improve to 11-4, while lowering his earned run average to 3.05.
"Just a great performance by CC," manager Joe Girardi said afterward. "He was in control the whole day. The only thing that got him was his pitch count at the end."
Sabathia, who was one of the more notable AL players not selected for the All- Star team, has faced his former team four times and is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA. . Cleveland, meanwhile, will counter with its new ace Carlos Carrasco, who is 8-4 with a 3.54 ERA. Carrasco defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, holding them to two runs and four hits in seven innings.
Carrasco twirled seven scoreless innings to beat the Yankees back on June 13 in his only other start against them.
Current Series
Indians lead the series 1-0
| Mon 07/04 |
WP: Josh Tomlin (10 - 4) SV: Chris Perez LP: A.J. Burnett (8 - 7) |
3 - 6 loss |
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New York Yankees Tuesday, Jul 5, 2011, 7:05 PM EDT CC Sabathia vs Carlos Carrasco Mostly clear. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 80.
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| Wed 07/06 | 7:05 PM EDT | |
